System and method for providing a game of chance via a client device

Abstract

A method and apparatus that collects demographics from contestants using ubiquitous Internet devices or a new slot machine on a casino floor. Contestants are given the opportunity to earn points that they can redeem for various prizes that are of interest to them. A plurality of prizes can be selected from a plurality of categories. As the contestants play games of chance, a pool of advertisements is presented to the contestants. Advertisements from the pool are selected in accordance with each contestants buying propensity. As contestants play games of chance, the system infers additional propensities of each user and stores this for later reduction. The reduced data is then sold as marketing data together with a list of system users that comprises name, address, phone number and e-mail addresses and the like. The system is implemented using a client-server paradigm. A server maintains databases needed to track all of the contestants that register with the system. The client devices, including the new slot machine, use a standard web browser as a means to retrieve and display web pages to the contestant. Most web pages have an attached java-script program that implements the functionality of the present invention. Other web pages that contestants encounter comprise a shell for a Java applet that embodies a game of chance. The Java applet that implement games of chance are universal in distribution relying on the web browser to homogenize the user interface across a wide range of hardware platforms. The ubiquitous Internet devices and slot machine are connected to the games either through a wired or wireless network.

1 . A method for presenting advertisements to a user comprising the steps of: 
 receiving personal information about the user;    providing a game for the user to play;    selecting an advertisement from a pool of advertisements according to said personal information;    integrating said advertisement into the game; 
 wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of:  
 a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance and a slot machine.  
   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of: 
 allowing the player to select preferences for prizes;    monitoring the players preference selections; and    updating said personal information to reflect said preference selections.    
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of: 
 allowing the user to activate an advertisement during the course of its presentation;    retrieving additional information for the activated advertisement; and    presenting said additional information to the user.    
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the additional information is in the form of a graphic image.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the additional information is in the form of an animated graphic image.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the additional information is in the form of a video clip.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the additional information is in the form of an interactive multimedia presentation.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the additional information is in the form of an audio clip.  
   
   
       9 . A method for presenting advertisements to a user comprising the steps of: 
 providing a game for the user to play;    selecting an advertisement from a pool of advertisements according to a set of propensities describing the user;    integrating said advertisement into the game;    wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of:    a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance and a slot machine.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising the steps of: 
 allowing the player to select preferences for prizes;    monitoring the players preference selections; and    updating said propensities to reflect said preference selections.    
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising the steps of: 
 allowing the user to activate an advertisement during the course of its presentation;    retrieving additional information for the activated advertisement; and    presenting said additional information to the user.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the additional information is in the form of a graphic image.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the additional information is in the form of an animated graphic image.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the additional information is in the form of a video clip.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the additional information is in the form of an interactive multimedia presentation.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the additional information is in the form of an audio clip.  
   
   
       17 . A method for selecting prizes that a user can win in a game comprising the steps of: 
 allowing the user to play a game;    monitoring the users activity during game play to determine if the user is exhibiting a preference for a particular prize;    presenting prizes that the user can win by playing said game wherein the prizes are selected based on a set of propensities exhibited by the user;    updating said set of propensities to reflect said exhibited prize preference.; and    wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of: 
 a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance and a slot machine.  
   
   
   
       18 . A method for selecting prizes that a user can win in a game comprising the steps of: 
 receiving a plurality of personal attributes describing a user;    selecting a prize based on a subset of the said plurality of attributes; and    wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of: 
 a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance and a slot machine.  
   
   
   
       19 . A method for selecting prizes that a user can win in a game comprising the steps of: 
 receiving a plurality of personal attributes describing a user;    segregating a collection of prizes into a plurality of categories;    selecting one of said categories based on a first personal attribute of the user;    selecting a prize from said selected category based on a second personal attribute of the user; and 
 wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of:  
 a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance and a slot machine.  
   
   
   
       20 . A method for selecting prizes that a user can win in a game comprising the steps of: 
 presenting an enumeration of prizes that the user can win;    receiving from the user a selection of a prize presented in the enumeration; and 
 wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of:  
 a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance and a slot machine.  
   
   
   
       21 . A method for determining what prizes are of more interest to a contestant comprising the steps of: 
 establishing an account for a contestant;    presenting a plurality of prizes that the contestant can win;    allowing the contestant to select a prize that the contestant wants to win;    allowing the contestant to engage a random process to determine if the    prize should be awarded in exchange for a debit of a first quantity of points from said account;    allowing the contestant to improve the likelihood of winning in exchange for a second quantity of points from said account;    recording the prize selected by the contestant;    counting the number of times that the contestant engages said random process; and    counting the number of times that the contestant improves the odd that thecontestant.    
   
   
       22 . A method for awarding prizes to a contestant comprising the steps of: 
 offering to a contestant a plurality of prizes that the contestant can win;    tracking the cost of each of said plurality of prizes;    associating an advertisement with each of said prizes;    tracking the income received for each impression of the advertisement presented to the contestant; and    adjusting a probability that the contestant will win the prize so as to ensure that the income received for all impressions of the advertisement over a period of time exceeds the cost of the prize.    
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising the steps of: 
 allowing the contestant to engage a random process with said adjusted    probability to determine if the prize is to be awarded; and    allowing the contestant to print a coupon that can be used to redeem the prize after it is awarded.    
   
   
       24 . An advertisement presentation unit comprising: 
 database of personal information describing a plurality of attributes for a plurality of users;    attribute reception interface;    database manager that receives attributes from the attribute reception unit and stores said attributes in said database of personal information;    advertisement database comprising fields for a category for each advertisement record;    advertisement reception unit that receives advertisements together with a category label and stores the advertisements together with their category labels in said advertisement database;    orrelation unit that receives an input that specifies one user and retrieves a personal attribute for that user from the database of personal information and reads a correlation category from a table using the retrieved personal attribute as an index;    selection unit that receives the correlation category and retrieves an advertisement from said advertisement database where the category label of the advertisement retrieved matches the correlation category; and    advertisement delivery unit capable of delivering the advertisement to a game.    
   
   
       25 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 24  further comprising a computer game that: 
 receives advertisements from said advertisement delivery unit and presents them to a user;    allows players to win prizes;    allows players to select what prizes they want to win;    records the players selection activities; and    updates the personal information about a user stored in the database of personal information.    
   
   
       26 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 25  further comprising: 
 monitoring unit that receives activation requests from a user together with an indication of what advertisement was activated;    information retrireview unit that receives an indication of what advertisement was activated by the user from the monitoring unit and retrieves additional information about the advertisement; and    multimedia presentation unit that retrieves additional information attached to an advertisement from the information retrireview unit and presents said information to a user.    
   
   
       27 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 26  wherein the additional information is in the form of a graphic image.  
   
   
       28 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 26  wherein the additional information is in the form of an animated graphic image.  
   
   
       29 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 26  wherein the additional information is in the form of a video clip.  
   
   
       30 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 26  wherein the additional information is in the form of an interactive multimedia presentation.  
   
   
       31 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 26  wherein the additional information is in the form of an audio clip.  
   
   
       32 . An advertisement presentation unit comprising: 
 database of personal propensities describing a plurality of attributes for a plurality of users;    advertisement database comprising fields for a category for each advertisement record;    advertisement reception unit that receives advertisements together with a category label and stores the advertisements together with their category labels in said advertisement database;    correlation unit that receives an input that specifies one user and retrieves a personal propensities for that user from the database of personal propensities and reads a correlation category from a table using the retrieved personal attribute as an index;    selection unit that receives the correlation category and retrieves an advertisement from said advertisement database where the category label of the advertisement retrieved matches the correlation category; and    advertisement delivery unit capable of delivering the advertisement to a game.    
   
   
       33 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 32  further comprising a computer game that: 
 receives advertisements from said advertisement delivery unit and present them to a user;    allows players to win prizes;    allows players to select what prizes they want to win;    records the players selection activities; and    updates the personal propensities about a user stored in the database of personal propensities.    
   
   
       34 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 33  further comprising: 
 monitoring unit that receives activation requests from a user together with an indication of what advertisement was activated;    information retrireview unit that receives an indication of what advertisement was activated by the user from the monitoring unit and retrieves additional information about the advertisement; and    multimedia presentation unit that retrieves additional information attached to an advertisement from the information retrireview unit and presents said information to a user.    
   
   
       35 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 34  wherein the additional information is in the form of a graphic image.  
   
   
       36 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 34  wherein the additional information is in the form of an animated graphic image.  
   
   
       37 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 34  wherein the additional information is in the form of a video clip.  
   
   
       38 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 34 , wherein the additional information is in the form of an interactive multimedia presentation.  
   
   
       39 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 34 , wherein the additional information is in the form of an audio clip.  
   
   
       40 . A prize selection unit comprising: 
 database of available prizes containing a plurality of prize descriptions;    database of personal information containing a plurality or attributes for a plurality of users;    attribute reception unit that receives a plurality of attributes for a plurality of users and stores said received attributes in the database of personal information; and    selection unit that:    receives an identification of a user and an indicator of required selection attributes;    retrieves the required selection attributes from the database of personal information for the identified user; and    selects a prize that matches the retrieved selection attributes from the database of available prizes.    
   
   
       41 . A prize selection unit comprising: 
 database of available prizes containing a plurality of prize descriptions that are segregated into categories;    database of personal information containing a plurality or attributes for a plurality of users;    attribute reception unit that receives a plurality of attributes for a plurality of users and stores said received attributes in the database of personal information; and    selection unit that:    receives an identification of a user and an indicator of a first and second required selection attributes;    retrieves the first and second required selection attributes from the database of personal information for the identified user; and    selects a prize category that matches the retrieved selection attribute from the database of available prizes.    
   
   
       42 . A prize selection unit comprising: 
 database of personal propensities;    monitoring unit that detects selection request from a user and issues an enumeration request;    presentation module that presents an enumeration of available prizes to the user upon receiving an enumeration request; and    selection module that receives from a user a plurality prize selections and stores the selections received in said database of personal propensities.    
   
   
       43 . A prize interest quotient acquisition device comprising: 
 database of personal propensities;    account register that stores the balance of points that a user has;    prize presentation unit that presents a user with a selection of prizes that can be won;    prize selection unit that receives from the user a indication of what prize is to be played for and stores this indication in the database of personal propensities; and    contest unit that:    receives an indication from a user to engage a random process to determine if the prize is won, decrements the value stored in the account register by a first quantity of points and then stores the indication of random process together with the prize selection in the database of personal propensities; and    receives an indication from a user that the probability of winning the prize is to be enhanced, decrements the value stored in the account register by a second quantity of points and then stores the indication of probability enhancement together with the prize selection in the database of personal propensities.    
   
   
       44 . A prize fulfillment unit comprising: 
 database of a plurality of advertisements available for presentation that comprises an income value for each impression of each of the plurality of advertisement;    database of a plurality of prizes available for award to a contestant that comprises a cost value for each prize and an indicator that associates each prize with an advertisement; and    cost correlator that: 
 receives a request,from a game for a probability indicator for a selected prize;  
 uses the indicator of the selected prize as an index to retrieve the cost of the prize from the database of a plurality of prizes;  
 retrieves from the database of a plurality of advertisements the income value for the advertisement that has an indicator that associates that advertisement with the indicator of the selected prize;  
 calculates the number of impressions that are required to result in income greater than the cost of the selected prize; and  
 issues a probability indicator that is based on said calculated number of impressions required and the cost of the selected prize.  
   
   
   
       45 . The prize fulfillment unit of  claim 44 , further comprising: 
 random number generator that accepts a probability indicator issued by the cost correlator and determines if the selected prize is to be awarded; and    coupon generator that creates a coupon that can be printed by the user and can be used to redeem the prize.    
   
   
       46 . The method of  claim 45  wherein said client devices are interfaced with wireless devices comprising any of: 
 a personal digital assistant and a cellular phone.    
   
   
       47 . The method, of  claim 46  wherein said wireless device is used to identify said user and perform financial transactions.  
   
   
       48 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein said game is accessed by said client devices using a wireless means.  
   
   
       49 . The prize selection unit of  claim 24 , wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of: 
 a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance, and a slot machine.    
   
   
       50 . The prize selection unit of  claim 49 , wherein said client devices are interfaced with wireless devices comprising any of: 
 a personal digital assistant and a cellular phone.    
   
   
       51 . The prize selection unit of  claim 50 , wherein said wireless device is used to identify said user and perform financial transactions.  
   
   
       52 . The prize selection unit of  claim 49 , wherein said game is accessed by said client devices using a wireless means.  
   
   
       53 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 32 , wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of: 
 a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance, and a slot machine.    
   
   
       54 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 53 , wherein said client devices are interfaced with wireless devices comprising any of: 
 a personal digital assistant and a cellular phone.    
   
   
       55 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 54 , wherein said wireless device is used to identify said user and perform financial transactions.  
   
   
       56 . The advertisement presentation unit of  claim 55 , wherein said game is accessed by said client devices using a wireless means.  
   
   
       57 . The prize fulfillment unit of  claim 44 , wherein said game is accessed by client devices comprising any of: 
 a personal computer, a set-top box, a ubiquitous Internet appliance, and a slot machine.    
   
   
       58 . The prize fulfillment unit of  claim 57 , wherein said client devices are interfaced with wireless devices comprising any of: 
 a personal digital assistant and a cellular phone.    
   
   
       59 . The prize fulfillment unit of  claim 58 , wherein said wireless device is used to identify said user and perform financial transactions.  
   
   
       60 . The prize fulfillment unit of  claim 59 , wherein said game is accessed by said client devices using a wireless means.  
   
   
       61 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein said contestant increases or decreases said points in said account based upon the outcome of a game.  
   
   
       62 . The method of  claim 61 , wherein said game is a game of chance.  
   
   
       63 . The method of  claim 62 , wherein said game of chance comprises any of: slots, blackjack, poker, roulette and lottery.  
   
   
       64 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said game is selected based on said subset of the said plurality of attributes.  
   
   
       65 . The prize interest quotient acquisition device of  claim 43 , wherein said contestant increases or decreases said points in said account based upon the outcome of a game.  
   
   
       66 . The prize interest quotient acquisition device of  claim 65 , wherein said game is a game of chance.  
   
   
       67 . The prize interest quotient acquisition device of  claim 66 , wherein said game of chance comprises any of: 
 slots, blackjack, poker, roulette and lottery.    
   
   
       68 . The prize selection unit of  claim 40 , wherein a game is played allowing said user to earn said prizes and wherein said game is selected based on said plurality of attributes.